Kate Chopin's The Story Of An Hour

The short story The Story of an Hour, by Kate Chopin, describes a woman conflicted with the death of her husband and her outlook on life after his assumed passing. Through the story, Chopin shows the transformation of Mrs. Mallard from that of an ordinary wife to that of a woman cherishing her newfound freedom. Although Mrs. Mallard is deeply saddened at the news of her husband’s passing, she finally begins to feel a sense of relief and witnesses what it means for her as a woman. Just as she begins to fully cherish her life, she is horrified at the sight of her “dead” husband’s return and proceeds to perish. Through the use of imagery and syntax, Chopin illustrates the interchanging psychoanalytic perspective of an individual following a personal loss.

These thoughts were a bit suspicious and frightful to acknowledge. As Mrs. Mallard sits next to her window she begins to contemplate what feelings are emerging from her, “There was something coming to her and she was wanting for, fearfully. What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name” (Chopin 653). This depicts the anticipation of change that is about to come into her life. Chopin describes it not as a physical object, but something she internally knows when it fact it blossoms into a new realization. With all these perplexed emotions she encounters from looking out the window to “patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds” (Chopin 653), these thoughts become the factor of releasing herself from her forbearing attitude into the new impression of individualism and

Mrs. Mallard is, outwardly, a typical woman in the 19th century with a husband, family, and home. It is first apparent that Mrs. Mallard is not satisfied with her role as a wife when she receives the news of her husband’s death and begins to feel a sensation of joy that overcomes her. The wife’s unhappiness with her married life is enhanced when the narrator states, “She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.” (Chopin 16) The reader infers that Mrs. Mallard was figuratively suffocating under the duties and stereotypes a 19th century woman was subjected to, such as caring for a house and family instead of pursuing a career outside of the home. Mrs. Mallard views her husband’s death as an escape from her role and a chance to have control over her life and choices, showed when she whispers “Free! Body and soul free!” (Chopin 16) In the final portion of the story Mrs. Mallard’s husband returns home, having never been in an accident, and she dies of what doctors determine is an overwhelming joy for seeing her husband alive. The reader infers that Mrs. Mallard has lost her chance of a new start and freedom from her role and dies of grief over her loss of freedom. The author contrasts Mrs. Mallard’s lack of control and freedom in her life to

In "The story of an Hour," Kate Chopin reveals the complex character, Mrs. Mallard, In a most unusual manner. THe reader is led to believe that her husband has been killed in a railway accident. The other characters in the story are worried about how to break the news to her; they know whe suffers from a heart condition, and they fear for her health. On the surface, the story appears to be about how Mrs. Mallard deals with the news of the death of her husband. On a deeper level, however, the story is about the feeling of intense joy that Mrs. Mallard experiences when she realizes that she is free from the influences of her husband and the consequences of

Mrs. Mallard’s life has not been her own ever since she got married. When Louise marries Brently she becomes Mrs. Mallard, she loses her identity and assumes a new and strange one. “She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky” (Chopin 2). Love, in “The story of An Hour” I believe is somewhat superficial. Mrs. Mallard tells that “And yet she had loved him – sometimes. Often she had not” (Chopin 3). The short amount of time it took her to mourn the death of her husband also helps to support the argument that there was no real love in that marriage. When she learns of her husband's death, her thoughts on what life would be like without her husband are pleasing. "Free! Body and soul free!” (Chopin 3). Mrs. Mallard wants to live without her husband. She believes freedom is hers; however, when she finds out her husband is not dead; she had shock of her losing it again causes her to have a heart attack and die. However, death is eternal freedom for her.

Chopin also includes an example of what could set Mrs. Mallard into a fatal heart attack, when she mentions how Mrs. Mallard’s sister and husband try to tell her the news of her husbands alleged death as simply as they possibly can (par. 2). Moreover, Chopin has incorporated a forbidden topic, which is Mrs. Mallard’s happiness stemming from her husband’s death. Using this topic, the work then takes a dramatic turn, as she begins to realize that she’s “free, free, free” from the “oppression” that is her husband, and this aids in establishing a sense of dramatic irony nearing the end of the tale (par. 11). To further elaborate about her husband, she was in a position in which I would assume the marriage

She was heartbroken, to begin with, but realizing that between her husband and her there was not much love and their marriage had already been falling apart since the beginning made her mixed emotions that she was feeling a change. She accepted that her husband had passed away but when Chopin says "she did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance." and most women do not tend to react the same way that she did but because most women did not have to go through what she did. Times were different but that still does not change the fact that her husband had to leave her at home keeping her as a housewife. That made her feel lonely and sad, which was affecting her heart trouble making it worse. When they find out that after all her husband was fine and he had not passed away Mrs. Mallard was in the room looking out the window, not knowing yet that her husband was still alive, Chopin says "when the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease of the joy that kills." (Chopin 2). She died happy knowing that her husband was gone. Mrs. Mallard wanted to be independent women but could not which was why she was very happy to know that now she was free to become that independent woman she has been wanting to be. She finally had freedom because her husband never made it on time to tell her that he was fine and that

When she goes in her room alone, she unveils her true emotions. The setting shows comfort and indicates that she feels safe. The "open window" symbolises her new beginning and she fills her mind with fantasies of freedom. "She would have no one follow her" indicates that she had only her room to retreat to and it is from this place that she is able to look out at the world. The metaphor "delicious breath of rain", the "peddler", "a distant song" and the sparrows are all symbolical of spring which represents new hope for a better life for Mrs Mallard.

Chopin presents Mrs. Mallard as a thoughtful character with quality and knowledge. As Louise comprehends the world, to lose her most grounded tie to her family is but rather an incredible misfortune a chance to move past the servitude of individual connections. Specifically, American wives in the late nineteenth century were legitimately bound to their spouses ' energy and status, but since dowagers did not endure the obligation of discovering or taking after a spouse, they increased more lawful acknowledgment and regularly had more control over their lives. Despite the fact that Chopin does not particularly

Mallard had died from a heart disease “. . . of joy that kills . . .” (Chopin 23) The end of the story signifies a certain end of Mrs. Mallard’s struggle between life and death. Jamil argues that “At the sight of her husband she is at once profoundly aware of her newfound freedom and the fact that it will not last.

Mallard’s looks as youthful, with a hint of repression and strength, and the way in which Mrs. Mallard looks out the window as, “not [being] a glance of reflection, but rather [indicating] a suspension of intelligent thought” (1). As such, Mrs. Mallard’s perspective on her husband’s death begins to shift to relief, but she bears guilt from these relieved feelings and attempts to put them to rest (2). Ultimately, Mrs. Mallard decides to accept these feelings. While she knows that she will be sad again at the funeral, Mrs. Mallard cannot help but feel free from the repression of her husband: “She [will] live for herself”

Mallard finally opens the door to her sisters worried begging claiming that she will make herself ill by sitting in her room upset (Chopin 557). She walks downstairs with her sister to see the front door open and Brently walking in the house. Seeing him walk inside affected her majorly. It had killed her. In the very short time that Mrs. Mallard experienced the feeling of freedom, she realized how lovely the world is and that she can live it however she wants to without anyone holding her back. She gained many things to look forward to in life such as her freedom, independence, and individuality. Once she sees Brently, it hits her that she will have to spend the rest of her life as nothing but just his wife and she knows that she’ll never be free again. Now that Mrs. Mallard had a taste of what her life would be like without her husband, the thought of continuing her former life with him seems unbearable. All this happening at once was too much for Mrs. Mallard to handle causing her to collapse and die. She was killed by the disappointment of having to lose everything she thought she had just gained. The texts states that Mrs. Mallard had died from her heart disease also referred to as “a joy that kills” (557). The readers can interpret that Mrs. Mallard didn’t die from the overwhelming joy she felt when her husband came back. Rather, the readers interpret that she had died from the disappointment of the loss of her freedom

Chopin includes that Mrs. Mallard tried to fight off these ideas with her will (Booth 307). Her embraced feelings of independence could have been viewed as forbidden. Although she is excited by these thoughts, she tries to resist the pleasure she truly feels when she realizes the freedom that she has gained. The words “free, free, free!” escaped from her mouth (Booth307). She attempted to hold back the overwhelming desires for her own life. Perhaps she is hesitant to welcome these feelings because of the public view on women’s rights, and the potential consequences for those who opposed such views. Despite the faithfulness and love Mrs. Mallard showed for her husband, the extreme relief she felt in no longer having a marital obligation overpowered her feelings of sadness and loss.

         Upon passage of her “storm of grief,” Mrs. Mallard retreats to her room in order to obtain tranquility.  Standing before the open window, she begins to take in the “elixir of life” and thus triggers her rebirth into freedom.  Looking out the window, Mallard views “the new spring life,” symbolic of the dawning of a new day or of her born-again experience.  “Trees…aquiver with new spring life…breath of rain in the air….a distant song which some one was singing…[and] sparrows twittering…,”  all provide evidence for the rebirthing experience occurring to her.  Sitting “quite motionless,” she begins to sense “something….subtle and elusive….coming to her….”  As the process of Mrs. Mallard’s transformation nears completion, she receives “…this thing….[with] monstrous joy….”  She now realizes that “…this thing….” is the one thing she has longed for – freedom.  Mallard comes to the conclusion “that she would weep again,” however, this time the tears would be of joy instead of sorrow, knowing that the rest of her years would “…belong to her absolutely…,” and no longer will she have to endure men trying to “…impose a private will upon [this] fellow-creature.”  She now knows that her “self-assertion…the strongest impulse of her being,” can now run rampant, and she begins to

Mallard’s marriage there was a problem. Mrs. Mallard did not feel the same way that her husband felt for her. Chopin states “She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead” (par.11). This shows that Mr. Mallard did love her, but she did not love him back the way he loved her. Mrs. Mallard felt she could not be herself in her marriage. She did not like the burden marriage brought to her. In that time period women did whatever the husband told them to do. As Jamil says, “In the patriarchal world of the nineteenth century United States that Chopin depicts, a woman was not expected to engage in self-assertion” (1). People thought it was not normal for women to be confident in themselves because society saw it that way. Because of that looking at Mrs. Mallard's situation; she was not living for herself; she was oppressed by her husband and had to live for him. She could not chase her dreams, much less accomplish them. If she did she would have to put her husband first before making any choice. But “now that she had realized that she had self-assertion she was powerful and it was the strongest emotion in her soul (Jamil 3). The emotion that she felt of being herself was stronger than the emotions that she felt for her